1. INTRODCUTION
Foodborne diseases (FBDs) have been a comprehensive concern; their prevention and control require multidisciplinary approaches that involve search for human beneficial natural products like probiotics in order to combat pathogens and their associated health risks (Sivapalasingam et al., 2004). Despite the use of modern food preservation methods, the rate of food-related illness continues to rise and is a major cause of death, particularly in nations with inadequate systems in place to monitor food safety (Amit et al., 2017). Due to the consumption of contaminated foods including contaminated canned food, meat, poultry, and fermented dairy products, more than 75% of the world's population currently suffers from food-related diseases (Akhtar et al., 2013). As a result, food safety is a current global concern that has an immediate link to human health and is gravely threatened by pathogenic microbes during transportation, storage, and production time (Parada & Aguilera, 2007).
Furthermore, due to consumers' preferences towards minimally processed foods with no additives or chemical preservatives, the world is shifting its attention toward the application of natural preservatives, including bacteriocin and bacteriocin producing bacteria, as promising natural food preservatives (Molognoni et al., 2019; Santos et al., 2018; J. Yang et al., 2014). Studies on bacteriocins producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were widely investigated due to their potential application as bio-preservatives in the food industry as many strains have been given “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) status (O’Sullivan et al., 2002). The preservative effect of LAB is due to the production of antimicrobial substances, including organic acids, hydrogen peroxide, diacetyl, bacteriocins, and bacteriocin-like antimicrobial substances (Freitas et al., 2015; Sanlibaba et al., 2015). Among these antimicrobial components, bacteriocins have received more attention in recent years because of their potential application in the food industry as natural preservatives targeting multi-drug-resistant pathogens (J. Yang et al., 2014).
The most dominant lactic acid bacteria that produce bacteriocins and bacteriocins like substances, including Lactococcus lactis, Pediococcus pentosaceus and Enterococcus faecium, were isolated and characterized from various traditional fermented foods and beverages. Some species of bacteriocin-producing Enterococcus isolated from various traditional fermented foods and beverages showed potential antagonistic activities against L. Monocytogenes, B. cereus and S. aureus, including multidrug resistant strains such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus. Enterococcus faecium isolated from traditional fermented dairy products are reported to have potential antagonistic activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial pathogens (do Nascimento et al., 2010; Fugaban et al., 2021; Vimont et al., 2017).
Although many Ethiopian traditional fermented foods, condiments, and beverages potentially contain probiotic Enterococcus species capable of producing various antimicrobial substances of industrial use, there are no research reports undertaken focusing on isolation and characterization of bacteriocin producing Enterococcus species. Hence, it is necessary to isolate, screen and characterize bacteriocins producing Enterococcus species to determine optimal growth conditions for bacteriocin production and application the product as bio-preservative (Santos et al., 2018; Weaver & Lawton, 2007). Bacteriocins-producing capability of Enterococcus species made them important not only for food preservation but also for treating certain multi drug resistant pathogens. Therefore, this study was conducted to isolate, screen and characterize bacitracin producing Enterococcus faecium from Ethiopian traditional fermented foods and beverages; and to characterize their antimicrobial substances Produced by E. faecium isolates.
4. Discussion
In this study, six Enterococcus faecium were identified and characterized from cabbage, shamita, borde, and ergo, for their bacteriocin producincing capacity. Bacteriocin-producing Enterococcus faecium demonstrated antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas auroginosa, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Candida albicans. Therefore, all six Enterococcus faecium showed the strong and potential antagonistic activity against all selected food borne pathogens. Similar to this result, Balla et al. (2000) demonstrated that Enterococcus faecium, convened for bacteriocin-producing capability, showed broad antagonistic activity against Listeria monocytogenes. Besides this, Gaaloul et al. (2015) reported that antimicrobial substances produced by Enterococcus faecium GGN7 demonstrated potential antagonistic effects against Listeria monocytogenes. In more recent studies, bacteriocin-producing Enterococcus faecium isolated from various sources has shown potential antimicrobial effects against several foodborne pathogens (Cocolin et al., 2007; Ghrairi et al., 2008; Ohmomo et al., 2000; Rehaiem et al., 2010). In addition, Franzetti et al (2004); Gaaloul et al. (2015); Hosseini et al. (2009); Quintela-Baluja et al. (2022) and Silva et al. (2018) large numbers of bacteriocin producing Enterococcus faecium were isolated from raw milk and fermented food origin and various food stuff and demonstrated potential bacteriocin producing ability. These findings confirmed that Enterococcus faecium isolated from Ethiopian traditional fermented foods and beverages was found to be the best potential food preservative because of its capacity to produce various antimicrobial substances, including bacteriocins.
The CFS of bacteriocin-producing Enterococcus faecium demonstrated broad antimicrobial activity against both gram-positive pathogens (Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative pathogens (Salmonella Typhimurium and Escherichia coli), with inhibition zones ranging from 13.00 to 35.31 mm. Abanoz & Kunduhoglu (2018) reported that Enterococcus faecium exhibited inhibition zones against Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Escherichia coli ranging from 20 to 28 mm. This implies that Enterococcus faecium's antimicrobial activity may vary depending on the source, the method of isolation, and the best selection criteria used to identify the bacteriocin-producing Enterococcus faecium.
Similarly, Perumal & Venkatesan, (2017) demonstrated that Enterococcus faecium exhibited broad antimicrobial activity against both gram-positive bacteria (L. monocytogenes and S. aureus) and gram-negative bacteria (Salmonella sp., S. thypi, and E. coli), with inhibition zones ranging from 13 to 18 mm. As a result, those Enterococcus faecium isolates were able to synthesize bacteriocin-like antimicrobial peptides with potential antagonism against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria (Drider et al., 2010).
Enterococcus faecium produces antimicrobial substances that are inactivated by pepsin, trypsin, and proteinase K, but perform well with -amylase enzyme. These peptides are considered as bacteriocin-like substances, with a proteinase nature. Correspondingly, Ghrairi et al. (2008) reported that the antimicrobial activity of bacteriocin producing Enterococcus faecium MMT21, remain active after treated by pepsin, trypsin and proteinase K. Likewise, Cocolin et al. (2007), Ghrairi et al. (2008) and Zommiti et al. (2018) reported that, bacteriocin like antimicrobial substances produced by Enterococcus faecium MMT22, Enterococcus faecium M241 and M249, Enterococcus faecium GHB21 was totally deactivated with the inoculation these enzymes and therefore antimicrobial substances produced by Enterococcus faecium isolated in this study is considered as bacteriocin like antimicrobial substances.
Bacteriocin-producing Enterococcus faecium showed stable antibacterial activity against S. aureus at 80°C, but not at 100°C, indicating its effectiveness at high temperatures (80-100°C).This suggests that Enterococcus faecium may be a potential candidate for food preservation at high temperatures. Similar to these findings, bacteriocin like substance produced by Enterococcus faecium was reported to be more stable and effectively inhibit the growth of food borne pathogens even at the high temperature 80-100 °C for 10-20 minutes (Du et al., 2017).
It was also discovered that the bacteriocin produced by E. faecium M241 and GHB21 remained entirely stable following a 30-minute after heat treatment at 100 °C, although activity reduced at higher temperatures (Abanoz & Kunduhoglu, 2018; Cocolin et al., 2007), which is quite similar to these findings. On other hand, Ben Braïek et al. (2017) and Phumisantiphong et al. (2017), observed that the antibacterial activity of bacteriocin-producing E. faecium EF478 and E. faecium Q1 shown potential stability at 60 °C for 30 minutes and 60 °C for 1 hour, respectively. Therefore, based on the thermal stability and proteinase nature of the antimicrobial substance produced by Enterococcus faecium, these isolates be used for industrial applications as a novel and promising food preservatives, since many food processing procedures involve a heating step (Abanoz & Kunduhoglu, 2018).
The stability of bacteriocin producing Enterococcus faecium was evaluated against S. aureus ATCC @25923 from pH 2-12 values. All six Enterococcus faecium produced potential antimicrobial activity after treated with different pH values. The maximum bacteriocin activity was observed at pH 5 and 7. In line to this study, Kumar et al. (2010) and Sarkar et al. (2020), reported that antimicrobial activity of bacteriocin producing E. faecium LR/6 remain effective in between pH, 2 -7, but ,about 20 % of the inhibition activity reduced, while the pH increased to pH 8.00. Similarly, to this study, several bacteriocin producing Enterococcus faecium showed potential antagonistic activity at wide pH range, from 2.00 to 8.00 (Kang & Lee, 2005; Moreira et al., 2020). As a result, the effect of pH on the antimicrobial activity of bacteriocin-producing Enterococcus faecium revealed that the antimicrobial peptides produced by these isolates were found to be active over a wide pH range of 2-8.500, allowing their use as food preservatives in acidic and alkaline environments(Isleroglu et al., 2012).
In this study, the effects of different surfactants and food additives on bacteriocin efficiency was evaluated , the antibacterial activity of bacteriocin producing Enterococcus faecium remain active having active antagonistic activity against S. aureus after treated with different food additive and surfactants. Similarly, several researchers reported that, the CFS of bacteriocin produced by Enterococcus faecium treated with organic solvents, detergents demonstrated potential antimicrobial activity (Rajeswari et al., 2010; Rehaiem et al., 2010; Santos et al., 2018).
Furthermore, the resistance of bacteriocin-producing Enterococcus faecium to organic solvents, surfactants, and detergents facilitates the widespread use of antimicrobial substances, by allowing the isolates to retain structural and functional properties during various purification processes. As a result, bacteriocin stability under conditions such as organic solvents, surfactants, and detergents, acid resistance, and heat stability is highly beneficial and enables their application in food processing and preservation of various foods and drinks(V. Kumar et al., 2016; Rushdy & Gomaa, 2013).
The study evaluated various media for bacteriocin production, finding that Enterococcus faecium cultivated with Modified MRS broth and BHI broth achieved the best antimicrobial activity. MRS medium contains carbon and nitrogen sources, while BHI is a general-purpose nutrient medium suitable for various microorganisms. Growth kinetics showed that BHI broth with an initial pH of 7.4 was ideal for LAB growth, resulting in potential antimicrobial activity. This finding is more consistent with the research reported by, as the researcher reported that, the highest bacteriocin antimicrobial was obtained when the Enterococcus faecium were incubated in MRS broth at 32°C for 16-24h, while BHI medium was suitable for bacteriocin production pH 7.4(Gutiérrez-Cortés et al., 2018; Todorov, 2009; Weine & Kim, 2019; Zhang et al., 2018). Therefore, modified MRS broth and BHI broth supplemented with different carbon and nitrogen sources are the most suitable media for bacteriocin production.
In this study, ammonium sulfate precipitation and solvent extraction methods developed to recovery bacteriocin production efficiency from E.faecium. Accordingly, various techniques, ammonium sulfate precipitation, chloroform, ethyl acetate, isopropanol, petroleum, methanol and ethanol based solvent extraction were used to recovery bacteriocin producing potential of E.faecium. Hence, the bacteriocin precipitated by 40 and 60 % w/v ammonium sulphate showed less effective antagonistic activities as compared to antimicrobial activity precipitated by 80% ammonium sulphate. Similarly, Barale et al. (2022) and Xu et al. (2009) reported that the antimicrobial activity of bacteriocin is greater when it precipitates at a higher concentration of ammonium sulfate than when it precipitates at a lower percent or concentration, because the higher concentration recovers the bacteriocin (up to 80% ammonium sulfate efficiency).
The recovery of bacteriocin from E. faecium using various solvents was found to be most promising for extracting bacteriocin-like compounds with high antibacterial activity. Chloroform and its mixture showed the greatest recovery, followed by isopropanol and ethyl acetate. These solvents are believed to be capable of extracting antimicrobial peptides from MRS broth of putative bacteriocin-producing E. faecium. In line to this result, Barale et al (2022) found that chloroform and ethyl acetate were the most effective solvents for extracting bacteriocin and lipo-peptides. Furthermore, the authors demonstrated that, methanol was the best solvent for extracting bacteriocin with good antimicrobial activity against B. cereus NCIM 2703, S. aureus NCIM 2654, and B. cereus ATCC 10,876 with zones of inhibition of 24 mm, 22 mm, and 14 mm, respectively (Barale et al., 2022). As a result, it is obvious that combining two or more approaches might be used to efficiently purify and recover bacteriocin from bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacteria isolated from diverse traditional fermented foods and beverages.
Ethiopian traditional fermented beverages and dairy products are rich sources of potent bacteriocin-producing strains. Six Enterococcus faecium isolates, JULABBr39, JULABBr40, JULABBS36, JULABS43, JULABE23, and JULABE36, were isolated from Ethiopian fermented foods. These isolates produce heat-stable, pH resistant bacteriocin-like substances, and exhibit potential antagonism against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. These isolates have a wide activity spectrum against various bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas auroginoasa, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Candida albicans
Based on these fascinating properties, the bacteriocin-producing Enterococcus faecium strains isolated in this study could be a promising candidate to be employed as a potential food preservative, particularly due to their stability, ability to withstand some extreme conditions that may be encountered while preparing some processed foods, and ability to inhibit some pathogenic and/or spoilage bacteria. However, for further it needs some detail study and research focusing on isolation characterization of bacteriocin and other active peptides using completely genomic sequencing to identify the types, as well as the position of cluster genes and encode gene responsible for bacteriocin produced by Enterococcus faecium, as well as determination of antibactiotic resistance gene identification, in order to qualify Enterococcus faecium and their bacteriocins as a safe bio preservative.